


I'll Figure This Out

by Victoria_Rose



Series: How We Live Now [1]
Category: Fallout - Fandom, Fallout 4
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 17:51:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5465528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Victoria_Rose/pseuds/Victoria_Rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It'd been almost a year since Martha Reiss had first left Vault 111.  The last year had been the hardest one of her life. She didn't do so well coping. For almost a month she sat in Sanctuary Hills. She slept a lot. She hardly ate. A time came when it finally clicked I'm her mind. Her previous life was over, except for Shaun. If she could find him, maybe this world wouldn't be so bad. So she went searching. That’s when she met someone she never expected. A man named Robert Joseph MacCready. Someone who would change her life forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Figure This Out

               It'd been almost a year since Martha Reiss had first left Vault 111. The last year had been the hardest one of her life. She didn't do so well coping. For almost a month she sat in Sanctuary Hills. She slept a lot. She hardly ate. A time came when it finally clicked I'm her mind. Her previous life was over, except for Shaun. If she could find him, maybe this world wouldn't be so bad. So she went searching. That’s when she met someone she never expected. A man named Robert Joseph MacCready. Someone who would change her life forever.

 

               Martha didn't want to be running anymore. She just wanted to find Diamond City. Did these Raiders have endless energy or what? She knew she had a lot of supplies, and a good amount of caps, but this was ridiculous. An idea popped into her head and she leapt onto a dumpster and vaulted to a short roof across the alleyway. Maybe she'd have a better chance of losing them if she was higher up? After about 10 minutes of lying low, the yelling and gunshots had subsided. She'd finally lost them.

               She let out a heavy sigh and collapsed onto the tin roof. Holding up her PipBoy she surveyed the map. But of course, she was horrible with directions. She'd wished she had Dogmeat with her. She knew he could handle himself but she didn't want him to get hurt so she'd asked Mama Murphy to watch after him...or vice versa really. She rested for another moment and slowly rose up, watching for any leftover Raiders. Carefully, she tried to slide off the roof. Half way down she nicked her calf on an upturned piece of metal. It ripped its way through her Vault suit and scrapped her skin. She yelped and quickly grabbed her leg. Just her luck too, it was just below where he armor stopped.

               “Oof!” The air was pushed out of her lungs as she toppled to the ground.     “Ouuuuch.” she rubbed her calf and scooted against the building. Reaching into her rucksack she pulled out a stimpack and shot it into her leg. Half the time Martha wondered how she wasn't dead. Not in the dreary “I wish I wasn't alive anymore” way but more of an “I can barely tie my own shoe without falling on my face” kind of way. Leaning her head against the brick behind her she looked up; there was a large neon sign above her.

               “Huh?” Martha hadn't seen much of the Commonwealth but she figured neon wasn't a big thing around here. Throwing her bag over her shoulder she stood up. “Goodneighbor...” she whispered to herself. “Sounds nice?” A light chuckle left her lips. After dusting herself off she made her way for the door. Stepping into Goodneighbor was something Martha would never forget. Her first impression was not a good one. The streets were dirty, and the people didn't seem very friendly. On top of that a guy decided to threaten her a few feet into the city.

               “Hold up there! First time in Goodneighbor? Can’t go walking around without insurance.” A bald man was eyeing Martha up and down as he lit a cigarette. His voice sounded like he had eaten gravel for breakfast.

               “Insurance?” Martha didn’t want to start anything with this guy; she just wanted to check this place out.

               “Yea, insurance. You hand over everything you’ve you got or “accidents” start happening to ya. Big, bloody, accidents.” He took a step closer to her. She didn’t budge. As much as Martha was a klutz, and a scatter brain she held her ground…most of the time.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a guy strolling through the alley way. He was wearing a bright red jacket. And a pirate hat?

               “Whoa whoa, time out.” The guy spoke. His voice was smooth and deep. “Someone steps through that door the first time, they’re a guest. You lay off that extortion crap.” The bald man and the man in the red coat stepped up to each other. Martha really didn’t want to fight anymore today.

               “What do you care? She ain’t one of us.”

               “No love for your Mayor, Finn? I said let her go.” Martha was watching the two of them closely. Apparently this guy, this ghoul, was the mayor. She took a mental note of that. Maybe he could come in handy someday.

               “You’re soft, Hancock. You keep letting outsiders walk all over us, one day there’ll be a new mayor.” Another mental note: the Mayor’s name was Hancock.

               “Come on man, this is me we’re talking about. Let me tell you something.” Hancock went in to hug Finn and Martha saw a glint in his hand.

               “Oh no.” she whispered under her breath. And just like that Hancock stabbed Finn in the stomach three times. Martha took in a quick breath. At least it wasn’t her. Hancock crouched next to Finn’s lifeless body and said “Now why’d you have to go and say that, huh? Breaking my heart over here.” He brought himself back up and looked at Martha.

               “You all right, sister?”

               “Uh...yea.”

               “Good, now don’t let this incident taint you view of our little community. Goodneighbor’s of the people, for the people. Ya feel me? Everyone’s welcome.”

               “Of the people, for the people? Got ya!” She raised her thumb at Hancock and nodded. Her voice was laced with sarcasm; this guy was a little bit weird.

               “Heheh, I can tell I’m gonna like you already. Just consider this town your home away from home. So long as you remember who’s in charge.” He nodded and made his leave. He headed into a door to Martha’s left.

               “Yikes.” Martha thought. She wasn't sure if she should stick around here any longer, but against her better judgment she decided to explore. She wasn't sure where to go so she looked around. There was an alleyway to her left; she figured she could see what was down that way.   Making her way around the corner she saw two decent sized guys with guns walk into a building. The building read “The Third Rail”. If they were going there it must be something worth checking out. She nodded to herself and that was that. When she walked in she was greeted by another ghoul; he was dressed in a clean-ish three piece suit. It made Martha smile for some reason.

               “Hancock says newcomers are welcome in The Third Rail. Go on in.”

               “Oh, thanks.” She waved her hand at him and walked down the stairs. She looked around for the guys but couldn’t spot them anywhere. She shrugged and took a seat at the bar. Putting her hands behind her head she unclasped her gas mask and set it in her lap. Letting out a heavy sigh she scrapped her nails haphazardly against her scalp. She never thought she'd be greying before her 30th birthday. As much as she missed her long jet black hair she knew it was a better idea to chop most of it off, now it was just above her shoulders. Now that she was thinking about it, it was pretty dirty. It had a few days’ worth of grease and grime. Tonight would be a good night to get a room somewhere and wash herself up.

               She rested her head on her hand and looked at the bartender. He was a Mr. Handy, like Codsworth, but this one was white. He had a sticker on his side as well. It was pretty faded and ripped up but Martha could still tell it was a Union Jack. It went along with his small hat he had resting on the top of his body. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a small bag of caps.

               “Hey, what do you have to drink?” she tapped her fingers on the bar.

              “Oi, we got beer. And if you ain’t buying beer, you ain’t buying.” Martha was a bit shocked by his accent. It was English. She hadn’t thought those kind of accents could still be found 200 years later. But yet again, he could be pre-war, just like her. She sighed and laid out 5 caps.

               “Yea, I’ll take one.” He handed her a bottle. She grabbed it and was disappointed. Warm. Like all the other drinks and food around this place. Twisting the cap off she chugged it and left it on the bar. Getting up she clipped her gas mask back on. She really wanted to find those guys, they couldn’t have disappeared. Walking around she scanned the other patrons of the bar. As she walked by a female ghoul she looked up and scoffed at Martha.

               “What? Another one of you mercs looking for MacCready? He’s in the back room.” Martha glanced at the lady and nodded. Maybe one of those guys was ‘MacCready’. She figured the back room was the one down the hall. The one with all the mannequins. And what was the deal with the mannequins? They were everywhere.

               She heard talking as she headed down the hall. Stopping before the door she leaned in a bit, taking a glance into the room.

               “Can't say I'm surprised to find you in a dump like this, MacCready,” One of the guys says, Martha can basically hear the venom on his voice. This lets Martha know that neither of those guys was MacCready.

               “Can't say I'm surprised it took you so long to find me,” he replies. “You run out of one-eyed trackers and have to let the blind ones off the leash?”

               “You want to make this easy on yourselves, we can take it outside?” MacCready chuckles as he says this. Martha couldn’t tell if this guy was as dumb as her, or really confident.

The two laughed at him in unison. “We're just messengers, MacCready.”

               “You forget I left the Gunners for good? We've got nothing to say to each other.”

               “Yet you're still taking jobs in the Commonwealth,” The other guy finally speaks. “That's funny. No, funny's the wrong word. Stupid, that's the right word.”

               “I don't have time for this, so why don't you take your girlfriend and walk out of here while you still can?”

               “What? Winlock, tell me we don't have to listen to this shit.” Winlock was the guy’s name. She’d try and remember that. Someday she may possibly run into these guys, and it’s good to have some kind of information on them.

               “The only reason we haven't riddled you with bullets is because we don't want a war with Hancock. We play the game. We respect borders. It's something you never learned.”

               “Glad to have disappointed you,” MacCready scoffs.

               “Fine, play the tough guy. But we hear you're working in Gunner territory, all bets are off. You hear?”

               “You finished?” MacCready asks. He glanced behind them and noticed a lady standing around the corner. How long had she been there?

               “Yeah, we're finished here, let’s go Winlock.” They turned to leave as Martha entered the room. She watched them as they passed her. She might be able to beat those guys, if things somehow got hairy. That was a comforting thought. She approached MacCready as he sat.

               “Look lady, if you’re preaching about the Atom, or looking for a friend, you’ve got the wrong guy. If you need a hired gun…then maybe we can talk.” He slouched down in the chair. He looked exhausted.

               “Maybe...who were those guys?” Martha tilted her head and asked.

              “Just a couple of morons trying to climb the ladder of success by stepping on everyone else on the way up.” This guy can really talk she thought. “You shouldn’t be surprised by that though, that’s how it goes when you run with the Gunners.” Martha had an idea of who the Gunners were but she wanted to make sure.

               “The Gunners?”

               ”Never heard of them? They are one of the biggest gangs in the Commonwealth. They’ve got a rep for being crazy…you know, so tightly wound you’d think they were a cult or something. I stuck with them for a while ‘cause the cap were good. I never really fit in though. That’s why I made a clean break and started flying solo.” This guy really needed to get that off his chest it seemed. Or he just really loved the sound of his own voice. “Now…what about you? How do I know I won’t end up with a bullet in my back?”

Martha thought about it a second. “You don’t really. That’s part of the risk, right?” she smiled under her gas mask.

               “Can’t argue with that. I’ll tell you what. My price is 250 caps…up front. And there’s no room for bargaining. What do you say?” He turned his nose up at her. She figured this guy loved caps, and he probably doesn’t care if it’s 250 or 200, he’d say yes either way.

               “Everything is negotiable. What about 200?” She could hear him breathe hard out of his nose. She got him.

               “You drive a hard bargain, but you just bought yourself an extra gun.” He pocketed the caps she grabbed out of her bag. “All right boss, let’s get out of here.” Martha agreed, and walked out of the backroom. She took another glance over The Third Rail and motioned MacCready that they were heading out. She climbed the stairs and nodded at Ham. She liked Ham for some reason. Heading out the door she looked to her left and then to her right. She didn't know if she should go get some ammo and supplies now, or wait till morning. She looked around again, trying to think. He saw a few buildings to her left and decided supplies could wait. There was a building called the Memory Den, which sounded interesting. But not right now. She'll be coming back, she was sure of it. Goodneighbor seemed fun. Unexpected.

There was a hotel next to the Memory Den, which was nice. She hadn't had a “stable” place to sleep in a few days so this was going to be nice.

               “We're going to go check in for the night. Maybe get some dinner. Then in the morning we'll get some supplies.” She made her way to the front door with MacCready in toe. The front door of the hotel was very nice. Classic. She'd wished she could have seen it in its prime. But it was too late for that. She walked towards the front desk. The women standing there looked awful crabby. Martha figured she would too. This place had seen way better days, and way better company.

               “One room, one night.” Martha didn't want to bother the women any more than she had to. She'd give her a rest.

               “All right, that'll be 10 caps. Your rooms up stairs, last one on the left.” she took Martha's caps and put them away in a small safe then handed Martha a small key.

               “Thanks.” Martha shoved her cap bag back in her pocket. She looked back k at MacCready who had wandered off a few feet. “You coming?” she called to him. He whirled around.

               “Right, yea.” the two climbed the stairs to the second floor and to their room. Martha made quick work of the lock. She probably could have picked it, but a key is always easier. She smiled at herself. She had turned into a real jackass. Thinking about stealing things and picking locks. If her dad could see her now. Oh man. Opening the door she let MacCready go in first. If there were any weird bugs or anything it'd be better if he noticed them first, rather than her. Quickly she closed the door, locking it behind her. You never know what kind of people stayed in these places.

               Martha took her rucksack from her back and laid it on the floor, along with her sniper. Unhooking her gas mask she leaned down to her bag. She rustled around in it for a while, looking for something. After what seemed like forever she finally pulled out a set of dusty leather clothes.

               “Here, I want you to wear these.” She handed them to MacCready. “I dunno if they’re your size but at least try them on.” MacCready raised his brow.

               “Why do you just have these?” he looked absolutely puzzled.

               “Why not? Besides, you look silly. And what is this?” she reached for the brim of his hat. He was faster than her, catching her wrist between them. Martha jumped a little and eyed his hand, now squeezing her wrist. A light flush fell on her cheeks and she slowly moved in. Just as she was going to push her lips to his, her other hand grabbed the brim of his hat. She smirked and pulled it down over his eyes.

               “Gotcha.” She snickered and stepped away from him. MacCready blushed hard as he fixed his hat. “You shouldn't underestimate a pretty face MacCready.” Grumbling he went to the bathroom to change. When he was finished he walked out and saw Martha sprawled out on the bed.

               “I hope you plan on moving over.” he made his way over to her. She turned her head to him and stuck out her tongue. His brow furrowed. This had better be worth those 200 caps, he thought. Martha rolled to the side of the bed and threw her legs over.

               “You look really good MacCready. And I didn't mean you looked silly before. I just figured you'd wanna blend in better.” a small smile spread across her lips.

               “Its alright.” he said as he looked down. The clothes were pretty dusty, cracked in few places too but that's what you get for living in a wasteland.

               “I've got some more clothes if you want something different. I'm a little bit of a hoarder.” she cooked her head toward her bag that was now against the wall with her guns.

               “This is fine.”

               “Awesome. I'm glad.”

               “Ya know...you don't really blend in yourself. With that PipBoy and your Vault suit. You're the one who stick out.” he couldn't help but giver her crap. She seemed to be able to dish it out, why couldn't he?

               “I see your point, but I'm the boss here.” she took her thumb and stuck it to her chest. “I'll decide who wears what.”

               “Whatever you say, Boss. As long as I have my caps.” he smirked at her this time.

               “You can get out of those if you want. I think we should call it a night soon. Then we'll leave early.”

               “Wanna tell me where we're going?”

               “I have something I have to check out in Diamond City.” She got up off the bed and made her way to her bag. She dug out a little tooth brush and a tube of toothpaste.

               “Where the heck did you find that?” MacCready said in shock. Now it was confirmed she really was a hoarder.

               “I ran across an old hospital a few days back. Do you want some?”

               “Uh yea, sure.” he followed her into the bathroom. She grabbed another tooth brush for him and wet them. Very carefully she squeezed just a pea size amount into both brushes. MacCready guessed this was why her teeth are so nice. She definitely wasn't a wasteland native, that's for sure.

               “I don't want to waste a lot, ya know?” She said as she put the cap on tight and placed it next to the sink. She tried to turn on the sink; to her surprise it was actually functional. “I might be a hoarder but I wanna make sure all the stuff lasts.” She let a small laugh leave her lips. They brushed their teeth in silence. It was a little bit awkward but Martha didn't really care. She had never hired anyone to watch her back or anything so she wanted to make it as comfortable as she could. They would probably be together for a while she assumed so the more they could get along the better.

               When they finished brushing she took both toothbrushes and dried them off, tapping them on the side of the sink. Martha set the brushes together next to the paste and went back to get some soap.

               “I'm gonna wash up before we settle in.” She waved to him as she shut the bathroom door. She let out a sigh and turned towards the mirror. It was cracked in a few places. It was stained too. She looked down at herself and figured she'd better start undressing. Off first was the armor on her arms. The straps on her left arm dug into her skin, it left red marks and welts. It was always a relieve to get it off. Then came her right arm armor. She set the two off to the side and continued with her chest plate. Her chest plate was probably her favorite piece. It had nice mesh on the inside and was super comfortable. It also had a bit if metal around the neck area. That'd actually come in handy a lot. After discarding that she sat on the edge of the old, broken bathtub and removed the rest of the armor on her legs. She glided her hands down her legs and squeezed at all the sore parts. Another thing she missed was massages. Pre-war she would always make time for herself and go to the spa. She shook her head; it was no time to daydream.

               Standing up she reached to turn on the water. It was cold. It felt nice to wash her face. She took the soap and made a few suds. Rubbing them on her cheeks, careful to not touch her eyes. She rinsed her face and wet her hair. She really missed shampoo. Soap worked but it left her feeling dry, and her hair was never as clean as she'd like. After lathering up her hair she tried to carefully rinse it off. She didn't want to get water everywhere. After washing her hair she removed her Vault suit swiftly. She didn't realize how tired she was so she quickly washed her body. Rinsing everything off she got back into her suit and gathered all her armor. It was a bit of a hassle to get the door open but she prevailed. When she got over to her bag she dumped all her stuff on the floor as sat crisscross next to her bag. She stared at the floor for a while; she didn't think it'd been that long until she heard MacCready yell at her.

               “Spacing out like that is going to get your killed. Or worse, me. Ya know that?” he took off his new, well, new to him, leather jacket and laid it on a chair in the corner.

               “Ah, sorry.” she shook her head and went to digging in her bag. She pulled out an alarm clock and set it on the dresser next to the bed. She set it for 7 am. She rubbed her eyes with both hands. It amazed her how tired she was every night. Getting ready for bed she always had the same thought. The beds in the Commonwealth were gross and you never know what kind of people had used them. She went back to her bag a final time and pulled out a big sheet.

               “The beds always give me a gross dirty vibe so I hope you don't mind me covering it.” she threw the sheet over and tucked it under each side.

               “No. I never really thought about it. Go ahead.” he was sitting on the chair taking his boots off. Martha took the side closest to the wall and turned away from it. MacCready lay on the other side and faced away from Martha. He didn't want to make it weird, sleeping face-to-face. As he fell asleep he hoped he didn't make a horrible mistake coming with her. She had seemed nice enough but he also wasn't the easiest person to get along with. But only time will tell, he thought.

               Martha shoved her face into her pillow and let out a loud sigh.

“Goodnight Mac. See you in the morning.” she patted his back and rolled over.

“Yea, night.” MacCready was nervous sleeping with a stranger, but what choice did he have? He wasn’t going to sleep on the floor, that’s for sure. After a few minutes he decided he could get some rest and shut his eyes. They were both asleep in no time.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh man, I haven't written in years. And I've never played a Fallout game until 4 came out but I had to write something with MacCready because I am garbage. I dunno how good this is but hey, here it is. Also my SS for visual: http://rammy-flowers.tumblr.com/tagged/martha%20reiss  
>  This will be getting more parts too, I just don't know when.


End file.
